May Madness: University of North Carolina Taps Steve Case to Deliver 2013 Commencement

By Revolution Team
on October 23, 2012

A big congratulations to our chairman and CEO, Steve Case, who has been tapped to deliver the 2013 Commencement speech at the University of North Carolina. In talking about the decision to select Steve as the speaker for the graduation celebration next May in Chapel Hill, UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp noted that Steve has “been a powerful advocate for the role of entrepreneurship and the furtherance of the country and an advocate for national policy. A lot of our students are going to start their own business or be a part of a business – he embodies all of those things.”

Just last month, Steve visited Chapel Hill and gave a guest lecture about his experience building America Online and backing businesses like Zipcar and LivingSocial to students in Economics 125: Introduction to Entrepreneurship. Steve encouraged the group to consider that they could, if they have the passion, pursue the road-less-traveled as an entrepreneur.

According to the Daily Tar Heel, the Commencement committee considered a list of entrepreneurs because NorthCarolina “is a campus that’s leading the nation in its interest in innovation.” Indeed, more than 400 students enrolled in the Introduction to Entrepreneurship course this Fall.

And on the heels (no pun intended) of this announcement, we also wanted to share a recent Entrepreneur Magazine feature story that was posted online today about Revolution’s investments in disruptive, consumer-facing companies and entrepreneurs. The story also looks at Steve’s efforts as a champion for entrepreneurship – working to improve the environment for starting and scaling new companies through public policy reforms and serving as Chairman of the non-profit Startup America Partnership.